Slippery Slope

On June 14, the Interior Ministry issued a regulation according to which an Israeli citizen can only apply to arrange residency status for a foreign-born partner if the latter entered the country legally. This regulation affects couples of Israelis and African refugees, threatening the refugees with imprisonment or deportation. On September 13, the regulation was rescinded following several petitions submitted to the courts and the Ministry of Inteior, but the affected couples were not informed of the change.

Police charged a 40 year-old man together with seven teens ages 15-17 and four minors under 14  with attacking asylum seekers. The suspects would show up at public parks with batons, iron bars and tear gas and assault African asylum seekers sitting or walking alone.

Four molotov cocktails were thrown in the early morning toward the homes of refugees from Eritrea and Sudan and toward a refugee kindergarten in the Shapira neighborhood of southern Tel Aviv. No one was injured in the incidents and the buildings were lightly damaged.